Rotary cutter for tonguing and grooving



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES A. WOODBURY, 0F WINCHESIER, MASSACHUSETTS.

ROTARY CUTTER FOR TONGUING- .AND GROOVING.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,806, dated March 30, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES A. WOODBURY, of Winchester, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutters for Tonguing and Grooving Boards, &c., and that the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, hereinafter referred to, forms a full and exact specification of the same, wherein I have set forth the nature and principles of my said improvements, by which my invention may be distinguished from others of a similar class, together with such parts as I claim and desire to have secured to me by Letters Patent.

The figures of the accompanying plate of drawings represent my improvements.

Figure l is a plan or top view of one cutter-head and tongue cutters. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the tongue cutters. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the same.v Fig. 4 is a plan or top view of one cutter-head and the groove cutters. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the groove cutters. Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section of the same.

The rotary cutters heretofore used for tonguing and grooving boards have con sisted of three chisel cutters inserted to gether in the cutter head; two of these cutters projecting beyond the middle one in the tonguing tool, and the middle one projecting beyond the other two in the grooving tool. These chisel cutters have each of course but one cutting edge, so that in going through the wood the sides of the cutters tear the edge'of the shaving instead of cutting, whereby there is a constant drag and pressure upon the sides of the cutters, which soon wears them off. In consequence of this wearing off of the sides of the cutters necessarily occurs one of the most serious difficulties encountered in this kind of machines, viz: the gradual diminishing of the size of the grooves and the increasing of the size of the tongues, so that the boards will not fit together. This result invariably happens after a comparatively short use of the cutters, rendering regrinding and reitting of the cutters frequently'necessary in order to produce a uniform size of tongues and grooves. In the use also of these chisel cutters their corners necessarily are rounded off, thereby leaving a smaller widt-h of cutting edge, so that the remaining portions of the tool, that is the sides, are actually larger than the space made by the cutting edge, in consequence of which the sides of the chisel cutters enter the space cut like a wedge, and crowd and tear the sides of the wood instead of cutting it, the friction upon the sides of the cutters being so great as to frequently draw their temper by heating.

It will be observed from the foregoing statement that in the tonguing and grooving machines heretofore constructed the tops and bottoms only of the tongues and grooves have been out off, the sides of the same being scraped or rather torn oft'.

The present invention consists in combining in a tonguing and grooving machine with rotary cutters, chisel cutters with lip cutters or cutters with cutting lips on their sides, by which combination a result never before accomplished is attained, viz: the simultaneous cutting of the top, bottom and sides of the tongue and groove by'one rotation of the cutter head and in such a manner as to obviate all the diiiiculties attendant upon the use of chisel cutters.

I will now proceed to describe the details of my improvements.

a a in. the drawings represent the cutter head for the tonguing tools and b Z2 the cutter head for the grooving tools. The tongue cutters consist of two lip cutters o o, having their sides formed by cutting lips Z d projecting beyond a chisel cutter e as shown in Fig. 2, the three cutters being fastened in the cutter head a of, by screw bolts f f, &c. The groove cutters consist of a lip cutter g, projecting beyond and held between two chisel cutters L L as shown in Figs. t and 5, the three cutters being fastened in the cutter head by screw bolts z', z', &c.

The operation of the cutters is as follows: The sides of the lip cutters as they rotate and strike the wood, spring apart slightly, in consequence of the pressure of the shaving upon the sides of the lips, and the rapid rotation of the cutting edge, in such a manner as to cut an opening alittle wider than the bottom of the cutter, thereby taking 0E the friction upon the sides of the cutting tool, which has invariably occurred by the use of ordinary cutters in all tonguing and grooving machines. By this springing of the lips and the consequent removal of all side friction there is no wear upon the sides of the cutters, whereby is obtained the new result in these kinds of machines of keeping the tongues and grooves always of the same size. By preventing the side friction and wear also, the cutters can be kept in order for one-half the usual expense.

It will be observed that by the above described arrangement the chisel cutters cut the top surfaces of the tongues and grooves while the lip cutters cut the bottoms and sides of the same, whereas by the use of chisel cutters alone, like those heretofore employed, nothing` but the tops and bottoms of the tongues and grooves have been cut off, the sides being torn o.

I am aware that lip cutters have before been used in stationary cutters as have also chisel cutters both in stationary and rotary cutters, but no cutting tool has before been made by which the sides, top, and

` bottom of a tongue or groove have been cut simultaneously by one rotation of the cutterhead, and this result is attained by the above described combination of the lip and chisel cutters both for tongues and grooves.

It may be remarked that the lip cutters in the tonguing tool are furnished with two lips one on each side, by which arrangement when the two lips for cutting the sides of the tongue become dull the other two lips can be brought into proper position to take their place, simply by placing the upper lip cutter in the place of the lower and viceversa, as will readily be understood. As it may be sometimes desirable to round the bottom of the groove, it may be further remarked that the lips of the groove cutter may be rounded so as to approximate to the form of a gouge cutter without altering the essential features of this invention.

Having thus described my improvements, I shall state my claim as follows:

What I claim as my invention and desire to have secured t me by Letters Patent is The combination of the chisel cutter or cutters with the lip cutter or cutters, substantially as described.

JAMES A. WOODBURY. Witnesses:

JOSEPH GAVETT, ALBERT W. BROWN. 

